Considering Monster Hunter Freedom and its sequel are the two best-selling games for the PSP in Japan (though Crisis Core may have topped them, I'm not sure), this may come as a bit of a surprise. Or perhaps not, considering other popular series such as Devil May Cry, which was previously a Sony-only franchise, has since been announced for the X-Box 360.

In America, the Monster Hunter series has enjoyed moderate success, but it's a much bigger phenomenon in Japan. While it was initially announced that Monster Hunter 3 was in development for the Playstation 3, development of the title has shifted to the Wii, apparently due to the fact that it's much cheaper to develop titles for the Wii than the PS3 (which seems like an odd reason considering other high-profile titles like DMC4 and RE5 are still being developed for the PS3, albeit no longer exclusively).

It should be noted that this is a sequel to the PS2 Monster Hunters, not their PSP counterparts. It's not unreasonable to assume that while the main Monster Hunter series may continue on the Wii, Capcom will continue to develop sequels to the Freedom series on the PSP so Sony fans won't be completely left out in the cold.

Here's the breakdown, courtesy of Sharewatch:

TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Nintendo Co Ltd, the world's largest maker of portable game consoles, on Wednesday won an exclusive deal in which major game developer Capcom Co Ltd will supply its blockbuster Monster Hunter 3 action game title for its Wii home-use, stand-alone game machines.

The Osaka-based Capcom had previously said it was developing Monster Hunter 3 for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc's PlayStation 3 game console. The company's Monster Hunter 1 and 2 games were exclusively offered on PlayStation 2 consoles.

Capcom's Monster Hunter series have accumulated global sales of 4.5 million copies.

"Due to high development cost of titles for PS3, we have decided to switch the platform to which we release our Monster Hunster 3 title," Capcom managing corporate officer Katsuhiko Ichii said. Nintendo has a rich title line-up for children but has few strong titles that can appeal to core game players or adults.

The announcement comes as Sony is struggling to recover its once-mighty position in the global video game market where competition has heated up since Microsoft Corp launched the Xbox 360 in 2005 and Nintendo Co introduced its Wii last November.

Sony said Tuesday it will cut the price of its new generation video game console sold in Japan to prop up sluggish sales of high-end game machines ahead of the approaching Christmas season.

Sony will cut the price of the most powerful version of the Playstation 3 (PS3) with a 60-gigabyte hard disk drive to 54,980 yen from around 59,800 yen offered by retailers on Oct 17.

In unveiling the exclusive deal with the influential game developer, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the company is now "entering the third phase of its strategy, aimed at expanding the game player population." "With the release of the Nintendo DS portable game console and Wii stand-alone game machine, we managed to lure those who have never played games or those who have stopped playing games to play them," Iwata said.

"I understand that some experts argue that our success is short-lived and temporary. So, we now need to make efforts to constantly expand the player base by offering services and titles that can appeal not only to those who have never played games but also to those who play them hard," he said.

Analysts think the deal could strike another blow to the Sony camp, which is losing support from game developers.

In late 2006, Square Enix Co Ltd, a developer of computer games, decided to release its latest DragonQuest IX game exclusively for use in Nintendo Co Ltd's Nintendo DS portable game console.

Square Enix hadn't published a main version of DragonQuest for use on a Nintendo game platform since 1995.

"Wii has so far been successful, but it lacks a strong player base among teenagers, while Monster Hunter is highly popular in this age group," said Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain, the publisher of influential entertainment magazines.

"So, the transfer of the platform is a positive surprise for Nintendo and negative news for Sony," he said.

Hamamura also said the decision by Capcom, which has a reputation for creating high-grade graphics, may also help encourage more third-party game developers to enter the Wii business, because it was thought that Wii would not be able to cope with such titles as Monster Hunter that requires strong graphical chip power.

Meanwhile, Nintendo also announced a plan to ally with NTT East and NTT West, the regional fixed phone service unit of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. The partners will offer a one-stop service for Internet-ready Wii, covering select Internet service providers and setting up an Internet connection.

Nintendo offers the so-called "Virtual Console" service which allows Wii users to download legacy games and play on Wii.

To enrich its Internet-ready features, Nintendo said it will also introduce a new service called Wiiware, which allows game developer to sell not only legacy games but also newly-developed games directly via the Internet.

"With the launch of this new service, game developers can set prices on new games more flexibly and cut the risk of holding inventories," Nintendo's Iwata said.

And finally, the official Capcom press release:

Capcom unleashes the beast as "Monster Hunter 3 (tri-)" rumbles its way onto the Nintendo Wii®

Capcom Co., Ltd. (Capcom) is pleased to announce the development of a new edition in its mega-hit "Monster Hunter" series: "Monster Hunter 3 (tri-)" for the Nintendo Wii.

The "Monster Hunter" franchise is a series of action games that puts the player in the boots of a fearless hunter tracking down and battling huge and ferocious monsters all while traversing breathtaking natural environments. To date, the series has shipped over 4.5 million copies worldwide (as of September 30, 2007). The "Monster Hunter Freedom" series for the PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) system (referred to below as the PSP® system) makes use of Network Play to build upon the gaming experience, which has boosted its popularity, especially in the student market, and has also helped to make it the first PSP® game to sell over a million copies in Japan. The series has also been the recipient of numerous awards with "Monster Hunter" for the PlayStation®2 receiving the Award of Excellence at the Eighth Annual CESA Game Awards and "Monster Hunter Freedom 2" receiving the Grand Award at the Japan Game Awards: 2007.

Capcom has worked tirelessly on the latest title in the series, "Monster Hunter 3 (tri-)", to utilize the unique aspects of the Nintendo Wii, which will create a "Monster Hunter" game unlike any of its predecessors. The attractiveness of the Wii experience is sure not only to please existing fans of the series, but also attract newcomers to this unique adventure.

As always, we at Capcom will continue to strive to develop new and original games that appeal to a broad audience around the world while expanding our properties for multiple platforms. We believe that by bringing the "Monster Hunter" series to multiple platforms, it will help the franchise reach an even greater number of users eager for its unique gameplay.

This franchise NEEDS to be on the 360 for Live-related reasons, but seeing how "Well" the 360 is doing in J-land, it's kinda like asking for a Jet Grind sequel.

::: Sighs :::

Zashi

10-12-2007, 12:50 AM

Im actually excited for this. Yes, the Friend Codes will naturally be a hassle, and it might not look as good on say the PS3 or the 360, but what I think they were going for was the motion control; swinging the Wiimote and being 'in the action'.

pastbehind

02-05-2008, 01:15 AM

As painful as it is, (not saying it's bad*) it's cool that it's on the Wii. But after playing through the franchise on PlayStation consoles, I can't help but feel discouraged that it might not be on the PS3. Does it mean that I'd have to get a Wii to continue one of my favorite game franchises? I mean I'd get a Wii only for MH3, but yet...is it really necessary?

FinalEVA

02-05-2008, 02:13 AM

This announcement has definitely made in from a "possible purchase" for me to a "non purchase" in my book. I really don't view the Wii as more than a gimmick. I'll consider it (the Wii) if it's less than $150, which may be a while. I don't hate Nintendo, but I do put their hardware that they have released in perspectivel

Unfortunately for some developers, they have found that adding waggle instead of pushing a button can do magic for their financials. I don't support this at all. So no, I won't be getting this game even though I considered it before.

4wheel

02-05-2008, 03:41 AM

Man, When I heard this during early december (when MH1 was still online in the states) I was definately bummed, but I guess after two months its not really phasing me as much as it used too. I guess I'll just have to continue logging hours in on mhf2 until MHFrontier comes stateside...if it does.